THE NEW YORKER 25 of the stern attri- bute of the super- l11an d lOp a w :1} , and the little haff- Ii n g idiosyncrasies which n1ake of any man a paradox ap- pear. He has a taste for elegance; he likes rich eating, yet many of his tastes are simple and his personal fortune is said to be small. He rarely goes to the theatre, because he , 1 , won t pay sca pers rates, and he won't own a car, because the garagemen might cheat him. '--' His wife is a cul- tured lady, niece of that John 'Vinslow who commanded the Kearsarg-e and '-- sank the c r u is e r Alabama in the Civil 'Var. There are four children: three boys and a girl. Last sun1mer the family took a place at Southampton and he puttered about there for a whIle, but he doesn't care much for bridge and similar diversions. No\\' he has bought a tract of one h undred nd twenty-five acres at Pawling, New York, to develop into a permanent country hOl11e. f T HE success writer, rounding off the biography of Fred F. French, would find himself confronted by a plethora of happy endings. There is not only that incident of th fortieth birthday; there are other episodes equally felicitous. The prin- cipal at Horace Mann, during his schooling there, was Virgil Prettyman. "I remember how awed I was," Mr. French has said, and he goes on to tell how, many years later, the frightened lad had risen until he found it in his power to make that same Professor Prettyman the president of one of hIe; companIes. Similarly, \Valter Rautenstrauch, Dean of Engineering at Columbia, where young Fred French studied, was 111ade a high executive, and the super- intendent of construction under whom he worked at the Hudson Terminal becan1e one of his vice-presidents. His first venture in real estate was the pur- chase of the old h 0 use in 162nd Street where he had lived as a boy. The French I3uilding to- day rears its mas- sive front in Fifth Avenue, and just around the corner at 11 East F orty- fifth Street is the scene of another epi sode of the strug- gling yea r s: he staved off starvation with a timekeeper's job there. He is a succee;s, and the record of his accomplishment is w r i t ten in th e blind magnificence L of stone and steel. Yet sometimes one wonders if he may not often have been a little astonished by the tall towers he has created. If he has, this series of co- incidences m u s t ha ve helped to re- assure him. -ROBERT M. COATES. ' " ,, " ;-, ' ,oe ." :':.A ):, , . ,d ' ( , { I '..1 .." . :..:-:.....:;........v..... .'. "..... "': j/ , ' . ",,:,, l:_t -' <' ",,; ;/ ' I !t :': , ) :' . 3>> '''f: :' , / , f'/ -. ::::.:.;.:.:' . ". :-'I(..,. _ N'"" , :.: ((Il est dang-ereux de se pencher en dehors" BOAT TRAIN \-$,,',..'. resigned to the inevitable, prepares the advertisement and christens it in the Times. Its success turns out to be doubtful, but what of that? He got what he wanted. But even the hero can have his gods. Mr. French, since youth, has cherished an adn1iration for Roosevelt. His idea of a vacation is a h un ting trip to the Nurth "T oods; when he set out for Alaska he went fully accoutered, his rifle and hunting clothes identical with Teddy's. :". .. ::. "<.-"'..,,:,,':\'i"::"":" .,Jl" . : ' t* ::, : .-; r: ?Æ }' ' " , ....... . " ":::ßt w"/' " ( , ;, ,- , 'W " .i "-.:' .. , , ." .... \. --.:.".." . :.".:,. . O l\;E wall of that large, smooth- carpeted, richly furnished room at 551 Fifth Avenue, which is his office, preserves-or did until recently-an interesting reminder of his exploits afield, in a collection of photographs of himself in various postures of the hunt. Paralleling them, on the oppo- site wall, are photographs of Roosevelt, in similar poses. And here, seated be- hind his large immaculate desk, or ris- jng to pace gesturing about the room, he reigns. His mouth is firm, stiff-cor- nered; he has a quick eye, blue and glinting, and above the eyes the brow rises to the high domed head, pinkly bald and gleaming in the soft glow of the indirect lighting. Here, in the office, he is impressive. Outside, some ":'< '. :,,, ,,,"': :ì ;; :if ' {. . . 1\. ;"Y ' J i:;'i , !' /Jl ". :' ,J.( >. ' .:' ".' {i :.' :.. ;: ø: " , .' i.f ..:.:.. '. . . .: , , ;Jk , : . . : , . :} . ': " , : , .i. " :\1 : '" *' ." :.::.: :Î . : 1" .::=::: f:,' .::-::: :::: . '.. i ::.;.' , r"":""""<:>".-: tl $ ,,:: ' , ( ,'. ' h "" j.. , 'I' F;i..!1 Ç ,';. i' ',' .,: " '1 t .:: "" I': AØ,..;{::Cif?; : l 1.}\,{;.. Yfj :; i i\ t , 1 ì \ ; " \ ": , :{ .<, ' :y ':' "' / :',:..'-" ',.'Ii , " . ..::......:... .,,(.,.:':'.; ' Elwoo{l Swift) of Ohio lVesleyan, and bag-g-age